Near Death Experiences -- Do loved ones meet us at our final hour on earth?

Do our loved ones meet us at our time of death?

Do we actually see Jesus waiting to escort us to Heaven?

My mother recently entered into eternity. I had always hoped that when someone I love slipped into their eternal life, I would have the reassurance of hearing who was waiting for them on the other side.

I have heard of people seeing their loved ones -- I have even heard stories about people seeing some of the Old Testament saints like Solomon.

When my mother recently suffered a blood clot and cardiac arrest, my first thought was that I couldn't wait until she woke up so we could hear who she saw.

Sadly, she never was able to speak, her condition worsened and brain damage occurred. We were never able to talk about who she may have met during the 20 minutes she was in cardiac arrest.

One evening before the funeral, my sister mentioned my mom had said her little sister was in the hospital room with her. During the time this was reported, my mom was doing well. She was in good spirits and not in a traumatic or grave situation. She was waiting for her scheduled cardiac bypass surgery. The little girl she said was at the head of her bed, and each time she turned to look, she was gone.

She said at first she thought the girl was an angel, and then she realized it was her sister.

The little sister she talked about had died at the age of 5 years old of scarlet fever. My mother never met her sister on earth!

When I asked why my sister had waited to tell me this, she didn't think much of it -- my mom was doing very well, there was no reason to necessarily believe this little girl was real, or coming to greet her. We were all at peace that mom was going to pull through the surgery.

When our pastor talked to my mom about the surgery, asking if she was nervous or afraid, she replied "No, I am ok, I believe I will be fine, and if something happens to me during the surgery, that is ok too because Jesus is already holding my hand."

Shortly after this time, an emergency cardiac stent was performed to open an artery -- which is when the blood clot formed and my mother went into cardiac arrest.

Nearly fifteen years ago, my mother had a near death experience. After a somewhat routine surgery, she bled too much and the hospital could not elevate her blood pressure enough to stablilizeher. The doctors gave instructions to notify the family to come and say goodbye because they were unable to stop the bleeding and raise her vital signs.

It was a Sunday morning, instead of going to church, we all headed to the hospital. On the way to the hospital we each called our respective churches and asked for immediate prayer for our mother.

When we arrived, the situation was grave. She was not responding. She was in and out of consciousness. We were hoping for a miracle.

The miracle was delivered! Out of nowhere her vital signs improved and the bleeding slowed. My mother was still very ill, but stable.

Once she was able to talk again, the story of what she saw unfolded.

She asked if she had been near death, as she didn't really understand what was happening to her. We said that in fact, she was close to dying.

She knew this to be true. She saw her father next to her bed, and her little sister, whom she had never met, in her room. She said she also saw in the distance rolling hills. On these hills she saw many, many people gathering and walking to join those already there. In this newsprint world, people kept coming and coming. She said it was as if it were black and white or newsprint.

My mom also said that if one of us talked to her to encourage her to fight, the others from the newsprint world would fade away, however as soon as she shut her eyes again, it was as if they continued to gather.

Her little sister and her father were a constant presence while she was so ill. She never saw her mother, and always wondered about this.

We believe if it had truly been time for her to leave this planet, her mother would have also been there waiting. Thankfully this was a miraculous recovery and we were blessed to have our mother until March 30 of this year. I believe with all my heart she is now in the presence of our Lord and her family that she had waited so long to be reunited with.

So, the question is, have you had an experience like this one?

Do you have loved ones who have had the experience?

God bless you!